The new
homepage of I Connect EU, a project funded under
the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commis-sion
in the Thematic Priority “Citizens and governance
in a knowledge-based society”, of which PAGANINI
is a partner, has been launched.

Focussing
on selected key areas of the 6th EU Framework Programme
for Research and Technology, PAGANINI investigates
the ways in which participatory practices contribute
to problem solving in a number of highly contentious
fields of EU governance. PAGANINI looks at a particular
dynamic cluster of policy areas concerned with what
we call “the politics of life”: medicine,
health, food, energy, and environment.

Under “politics of life”
we refer to dimensions of life that are only to
a limited extent under human control - or where
the public has good reasons to suspect that there
are serious limitations to socio-political control
and steering. At the same time, “politics
of life” areas are strongly connected to normative,
moral and value-based factors, such as a sense of
responsibility towards the non-human nature, future
generations and/or one’s own body. In these
areas traditional mechanisms of governance can be
seen to hamper policymaking and much institutional
experimentation has been taking place.

The overall objective of
the proposed research is

•
to analyse how fields of governance related to the “politics
of life” constitute a new and particular challenge
for citizen participation and
the generation of active trust.

•
to illuminate how citizens’ participation in key
areas of European research and technology policy that
are connected to the “politics
of life” can be made more effective and
appropriate,

•
to investigate the changing role of civic participation
in the context of multi-level governance in the European
Union,

•
to contribute to institutional re-design in a the emerging
European “politics of life”.